Halo Flashpoint Spartan Edition and Paint Set Review

Reload Spartan. It's time to respawn, with upgrades. After checking out the Halo Flashpoint Recon Edition, we're now delving deep into the larger Halo Flashpoint Spartan Edition and Halo Flashpoint Paint Set.

Halo Flashpoint is a brand new miniatures game from Mantic Games, of which we've covered several of their products over the years, from the sci-fi skirmish game Deadzone, the sports battler OverDrive, and their awesome fantasy mass battle game, Kings of War. In this article, we won't be going over how to play Halo Flashpoint, you'll have to check out our Recon Edition Review for that, here we're going to look at what extra you get in the Spartan Edition set, along with the Halo Flashpoint Paint Set, and talk about whether it's worth the upgrade.

What Does The Halo Flashpoint Spartan Edition Contain?

The Halo Flashpoint Spartan Edition is a much larger box than its Recon counterpart, this is because it contains over double the amount of miniatures and extra scenery.

The Halo Flashpoint Spartan Edition contains (with the items in bold signifying those that are different from the Recon Edition):

• 16x Spartan models
• 4x Banished Elite models
• Rulebook
• Playmat
• Pre-coloured card terrain and tokens
• Deluxe 2-sided playboard
• 20x Weapon cards
• Extra terrain and tokens
• 20x Player/model cards
• 3x Reference cards
• 12 x D8 dice
• 8x Command dice
• Plastic 3D arena accessories

Like in the Recon Edition, the miniatures are single piece and ready to play, but you don't just get more of the same miniatures, you get the 8 from the Recon Edition, along with another 8 (2 of each of the 4 types), but with new armaments. You also get 4 Banished Elite models to pit your Spartans against.

Along with the paper playmat from the Recon Edition, you get a much more durable double-sided card playboard that features 2 terrain types that match the double-sided scenery (of which you also get more of), and you also get some plastic 3D arena accessories like flags to use in the different mission types. And because you're going to be playing bigger games, you get more command dice, more tokens, and a duplicate of each of the equipment cards.

What Does The Halo Flashpoint Paint Set Contain?

The Halo Flashpoint Paint Set is an incredible little product. It's currently the only place to get the Master Chief miniature (worth the purchase alone), but it also serves as a starter paint set for those who might be new to the hobby. Inside the box you will find:

• 8 x Army Painter Warpaint Fanatic Paints
• 1 x Brush
• 1 x Master Chief Model
• 2 x Game Cards

We've covered the awesome Army Painter sets in the past, but this isn't just a rebox of their normal paints, this comes with 8 Halo-branded paints:

• UNSC Armor Green
• UNSC Visor Gold
• UNSC Techsuit Grey
• Red Team Red
• Blue Team Blue
• Banished Black
• Forerunner White
• The Flood (which is an absolutely incredible bit of marketing, is a wash that goes over the other paints once dry to bring out the detail)

The brush that comes in the set is a basecoating brush, which is great for putting the base layer in black or white, and then the first layer of colored paint before adding the wash. If you want to start adding detail, you just need to pick up a brush with a slightly thinner tip, and mix the paints in this set with white (to make them lighter) and you can highlight your Spartans with just this set. The Army Painter also has a full video tutorial for painting the Master Chief miniature that you get in the set, which you can check out here.

The Master Chief miniature that comes in the set is awesome, and John-117's pose really captures the feeling of him striding purposefully forward with an energy sword. Master Chief's stat card is also pretty insane, and as a result, he counts as 2 Spartans when using the drafting rules out of the box. John has 3+ stats across his profile for ranged, fight, and survive, along with an extra hit point and energy shield over his Spartan counterparts.

Master Chief also comes with the One Man Army Special Order, which means that if you use a special order command dice, you can then use any number of advance, fight,t or shoot command dice to throw Master Chief into the fray. John-117 is armed with an Energy Sword that has the same stats as the equipment card from the set, but no ranged weapon, so you will have to cover him with other Spartans until he can collect one, or close the distance.

What New Units Does The Halo Flashpoint Spartan Editon and Paint Set Contain?

The Halo Flashpoint Spartan Edition comes with the same 2 copies of the 4 Spartan types as the Recon set, along with 2 copies of the same 4 Spartan types, with different armaments, and 4 types of Banished Elites.

The Spartan Editon includes 2 identical teams of 4 Spartans from the Recon edition:

• Spartan MK VII - Armed with an MA40 Assault Rifle.
• Spartan Brawler - Armed with a CQS48 Bulldog.
• Spartan Zvezda - armed with a VK78 Command.
• Spartan Deadeye - Armed with a M392 DMR rifle.

Along with 2 teams of identical teams of the following 4 Spartans:

• Spartan MK VII - Armed with a Pulse Carbine, which rather than have rapid fire like the MA40 Assault Rifle, has Armor Penetration (1) and Energy Shield Depletion.
• Spartan Brawler - Armed with a Needler, which has a longer range than the CQS48 Bulldog, and rapid-fire / weight of fire, rather than knockback.
• Spartan Zvezda - Armed with a Cindershot, which has a shorter range than the VK78 Commando, but has energy shield depletion, grenade implosion, and lethal.
• Spartan Deadeye - Armed with a Stalker Rifle, which has Armor Penetration 1, and a sniper scope, which allows a long action shot, taking more actions, but adding 2 dice and getting headshots on a 7 or 8.

The 4 Banished Sangheili Mercenaries included in the Spartan Edition, all have the same stats, with 4+ in ranged, fight, and survive, but also Energy Shield 3 and evade which allows them to move after being shot. The Sangheili come with the following armaments:

• Energy Sword / Plasma Grenade
• Energy Daggers / Needler / Plasma Grenade
• Energy Daggers / Plasma Rifle / Plasma Grenade
• Energy Daggers / Pulse Carbine / Plasma Grenade

And to keep the pressure on the Spartans the Sangheili come with Reinforcements Incoming special order, which allows their player to use a special order to speed up their respawn. You can't mix Banished with Spartans, so the Banished team selection is fixed in this box, but it does add a welcome dynamic to the set, rather than just fighting against other Spartans, until further factions are released.

What Are Our Final Thoughts On The Halo Flashpoint Spartan Editon and Paint Set?

I'm a big fan of the Halo Flashpoint Recon Edition box, and the Spartan Edition is the Recon Edition, but with much more. You get a lot more variety for your drafts, making teams entirely of any of the 4 types is possible here, and the different armament options make games more interesting, especially with the addition of the Banished team. It's also worth noting that while more Spartans are on the release roadmap for the next few months, the Banished aren't, so this is a very worthwhile purchase to start playing with them.

And if you want to add Master Chief to your games, the paint set for me was worth it for the miniature alone, and the additional Halo-themed paints and brush were a bonus. 

Should I Buy The Halo Flashpoint Spartan Editon and Paint Set?

If you just want a simple pick-up-and-play deathmatch game, then the Recon Edition is very solid for the price, but if you want a lot more variety, or you're looking to go full into Halo Flashpoint, then the sheer variety of the Spartan Edition makes it worth it. You get 5 different full-fire teams, along with all the extra scenery, 3D arena accessories, and the durable gameboard, which is well worth the extra investment.

The paint set is worth it for the Master Chief miniature alone if you're a Halo fan, and adding him to your games is a lot of fun. If you're a Halo fan but not a tabletop gamer, then this box is perfect to get the miniature and the paints you need to have him looking great on display.

The copy of Halo Flashpoint Spartan Edition and Paint Set used to produce this review was bought by the author.